Jpg "Artifacts" in Newton by Blake

At first I was convinced that the supposed text on Cicada's version of "Newton" by William Blake were simply jpg compression artifacts. Now, however, I am not so sure.


We set out in search of finding the exact image Cicada had used to make their copy. Simple enough, we found a high resolution version on wikipedia that matched perfectly (the others had slight coloring or lens distortions). This can be found here: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Newton-WilliamBlake.jpg

The official Cicada image was flipped horizontally, so we flipped ours as well.

I then continued in Photoshop to overlay and make a subtract the pixel differences. After then flipping it vertically, I got this: http://i.imgur.com/MZXI0A3.jpg

Looks like not much... Right? Wrong. Take a really close look at the top/right side. You might see a few lighter areas up there.

So I added contrast to the bottom layer:
http://i.imgur.com/d9grMff.jpg

Again. Look right where the finger is pointing. Looks like letters right?

EDIT: Why is this upside down? Depends on what you think the letters are. I was thinking they were W's but they could also be M's

Ok. So at this point, assuming these are letters and NOT compression artifacts, then what are they? Well obviously we don't know the font. But we can guess its something basic. I typed out what I thought the characters were and did the following with respect to fonts:

Default Photoshop Font: Adobe Gothic STD

Font Size: 7

For "XXX" I set the font mode to "none" and the character spacing to -100

For the "III" I set the font mode to "crisp" and the character spacing at 0

For the "WWW" I set the font mode to "sharp" and the character spacing to -100

Here is the full size result:

http://i.imgur.com/txa4C2Q.jpg

And a cropped down version:

http://i.imgur.com/xUhENkk.png

 

Now these could be totally different if they were inverted (I did flip the image). But at least it shows that their is probably something there and that this was edited in.

In short... I don't know WHAT it says but I am at least 70% certain those are not "artifacts" we are seeing, but rather text edited into the picture.

COUNTER ARGUMENT: The issue I have with all this is that Cicada is "planned," meaning that I am not totally sure that 3301 would leave us to guess at what the characters are. There are hundreds of potentially "relate-able" interpretations/variations and we would have no idea how to use them. Especially the part after the "WWW" is so hard to read....

Leave a comment with your ideas as to what the text says, or if you have any questions about the process of deriving this all. (All images saved as PNG for lossless viewing).

Other ideas for the top text: 

IIICCCV

IIIXCCV

AXXXIII (Inverted)

For the bottom:

WWW.XX

On ARGs

My fascination with cyber security and computers began as a byproduct of how much time I spent on computers. It began from being interested by electronics and r/c planes. But at first I was off put by the amount of advanced material and lack of simple tutorials available on the internet. That all has changed. The internet is developing a vastly different coulture of learning, one where anyone has the power to learn anything. The realization of this has begun a wave of introductory material to all sorts of topics, written by people who experienced or saw the rising need for it.
     As I have progressed in my schooling I have become increasingly adept at learning from internet resources. There is a certain point at which one begins to filter the advanced vocabulary instead of being hindered by it. However, it is always nice to start with something simple.

My first dip into args was upon seeing a post by /u/bloodster8 on reddit.com/r/wtf. The subsequent chase after truth swallowed my time. It began with simply writing a summary and attempting to compile my information, but I realized that there were others looking to me as an authority. I found it strange... the power of anonymity. It reminds me of Ender's Game, and the "net." I have always aspired to the way that Peter and Valentine are able to gather power, disguising their ages and identities behind an username and advanced vocabulary.

What intrigues me about ARGs is that I am good at them. I think that if I were entirely unable to figure something out I would quickly give up. But with /u/bloodster8's there was no heavy emphasis on advanced cryptography or steganography... thankfully. Over the next few days I will attempt to write out my discoveries, and path to discovery of /u/bloodster8's ARG, 4414 and the UK Cyber Security Challenge. Mostly, of course, for personal record, but also in case anyone else might be able to learn from it. In the last 3 weeks I have gone from knowing practically nothing about cryptography or cyber security, to being able to compete with professionals in the it-field and maintain a reasonable level of comprehension. Perhaps my learning process may help someone else, at least that's the idea.


Regards,

TCHB

Greetings.

Maybe someday I will consider the internet safe enough to not be anonymous, but for now...

I'd like to keep this blog to organize my thoughts, and specifically post about whatever ARG's or Cyber Security Challenges I might be working on.

As for who I am... I am the Chosen Half-Blood. You might know me from other places, you might not. Either way, I hope you enjoy what I post. Let the journey begin.


Regards,

TCHB